Players’ union: We’re pleased with Tagliabue, happy for our members

Posted by Michael David Smith on December 11, 2012, 3:18 PM EDT

AP

The NFL Players’ Association says former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue made the right call in rescinding the suspensions of four players in the Saints’ bounty case, and the union is happy for Scott Fujita, Will Smith, Anthony Hargrove and Jonathan Vilma.

In a statement released shortly after Tagliabue ruled that the four players couldn’t be suspended, the NFLPA expressed vindication.

“We believe that when a fair due process takes place, a fair outcome is the result,” the statement said. “We are pleased that Paul Tagliabue, as the appointed hearings officer, agreed with the NFL Players Association that previously issued discipline was inappropriate in the matter of the alleged New Orleans Saints bounty program. Vacating all discipline affirms the players’ unwavering position that all allegations the League made about their alleged ‘intent-to-injure’ were utterly and completely false. We are happy for our members.”

Yet another example of how Roger Goodell is attempting to ruin the NFL at every possible opportunity. Thank God Tagliabue was willing to call him and the NFL out for their arbitrary and reckless actions in handling the bounty allegations.

NFLPA is a joke. Non of these guys were found innocent. All guilty. They just got ungrounded by daddy. Don’t forget Payton and Williams have said repeatedly the system was there. Are they lying? Nope. This is the league making this go away with shame on all sides.

That’s just not true. For all the businesses and corporations in the world, every business treats their workers different, be it great, terrible, or in somewhere in between. It’s actually often in business’s best interest to treat workers well, otherwise they won’t attract good workers.

But then again, let’s not consider that. Let’s just keep listening to all the rhetoric we’re fed from politicians instead.

Tags actually said they could have disciplined a GREATER number of players than just these! The evidence was there. More crept up as things went on. It’s finally over thank goodness. Now please no more articles!!

This is exactly why UNIONS are necessary. Given the choice no business or corporation has their workers best interests anywhere in sight.

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I think you’ve got it backward. The NFLPA defended a couple union members who were intentionally trying to injure other union members. Seems more like it’s the union that didn’t really have the majority of their members’ best interest in mind.

They weren’t defending the players at risk or trying to improve playing conditions. They were just fighting whatever position the league took.

“We are very happy with the members of our union who will not be punished for intentionally trying to hurt other members of our union. We encourage player safety and believe this whole thing was a sham by the NFL to protect themselves in the concussion lawsuits. The NFL has no intention to protect their players. Again, congrats to our members who intentionally tried to hurt our members and got away with it. Bad NFL, good NFLPA”- de smith.

So true. This is the same NFLPA that demanded that Tagliabue recuse himself because he didn’t have the integrity to overlook his affiliation with the league. If the suspensions hasn’t been vacated, it would have been, “see! We told you he was biased!”

No doubt Belichick broke a 2006 rule in 2007 for having cameras on the sidelines instead of in the stands as the rules still allow, but Goodell reacted as if signal filming doesn’t happen in every game.

And of course any halfway intelligent fan knows why even today, every coordinator covers his mouth when calling in plays.

The NFLPA is a bigger joke than the referees- replacement or real. It seems clear that Smith’s strategy w/ the union is to fight everything in the courts, regardless of the CBA. Why? Because he knows that he totally screwed the players w/ the way he handled the negotiations for nearly everything. including the salary cap, drug testing, commissioner punishment, etc.